To Green or Not to Green …

And now a dispatch from the informative world of Capitol Hill listservs: Gene Green prints green, even though green may not be seen.

Let’s start at the beginning.

McClatchy Co.’s Washington bureau recently sent out a mass solicitation to Congressional press secretaries asking for lawmakers’ tax returns. The scribes asked because “[taxes] are emerging as a key election issue.”

One Democratic press secretary turned to the Democratic press secretary listserv for advice on what she should do.

“I generally ignore all mass solicitations,” one respondent wrote. “However, I was grateful for the tip that taxes are important. Who knew?!”

Another called the solicitation lazy reporting, worse than stories about Congressional franking.

When Green’s spokeswoman responded to the email chain, she used an attractive green font in her signature. One astute recipient complimented her on this style choice.

“I like the green font from Congressman Gene Green’s office!” he replied. “It goes with the green font on your business cards! : )”

Smiley face indeed.

“Thanks!” the Texas Democrat’s spokeswoman wrote back. “Congressman Green worked for a printer while he was in college so he knew it was the same price to print in green as black or blue, so he started doing his business cards in green when he started in the State legislature in ’73!

“So it’s kind of a tradition now.”

Good feelings all around. Or at least until some downer press secretary wrote: “Green color blindness is by far the most common form [of color blindness]; around 6% of the total male population is green color blind — primarily as a mild deficiency.”

At this point, our tipster said that if the chain continued, he was “going to lose [his] goddamn mind.”